1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to a method for attaching sealing profiles to vehicle bodies or their parts, where the sealing profile is pulled from a storage unit, and a press roller is used to roll an adhesive layer carried on the sealing profile onto the vehicle body or a vehicle body part along a line provided for this attachment process.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method for attaching a seal to a vehicle door is known from DE 101 38 781 A1, in which the seal, in the form of an endless profile on a supply roll, is pulled from the supply roll, and an adhesive surface on the seal is rolled continuously around the vehicle door along a line provided for this attachment process.
In conjunction with this prior art and the present invention, the term “rolled onto” is intended to mean that the press rollers, for example, of a suitable application device are used to press the sealing profile continuously along a surface of a vehicle body or vehicle body part such as a vehicle door following a predefined installation line, the profile thus being attached in this manner.
The sealing profile in the process according to DE 101 38 781 A1 is in the form of an extruded profile to which an adhesive tape has been applied and which is wound up on a supply roll, from which it is pulled. The adhesive surface of the sealing profile is covered initially by a liner, which is pulled off before the seal is attached. The liner can be pulled from the adhesive surface by a robot, for example, which also carries the press roller.
The sealing profile wound up on the supply roll must be preassembled at the manufacturer's plant. It normally consists of the sealing profile and the adhesive strip applied to it, where the surface of the adhesive layer facing toward the outside is covered by the liner. The preassembly of the sealing profile, therefore, consists not only of the step of extruding the sealing profile but also the additionally required steps of gluing the adhesive strip to the sealing profile and of attaching the liner.
The attachment of the adhesive strip must be precisely coordinated with the extrusion process, which could otherwise be disturbed by this attachment step. In addition, it is necessary for the preassembled sealing profile to be to be packaged carefully for the trip from the manufacturer of the sealing profile to the user, such as an auto maker. Otherwise, there is the danger that the liner could separate prematurely from the adhesive layer, which would prevent the sealing profile from bonding properly to the vehicle body or vehicle body part. But even if the profile is properly packaged, there is still the danger that the liner can come loose during transport as a result of vibrations, internal stresses in the sealing profile, or the effects of weather. Bonding the adhesive strip to the profile during the extrusion process can also cause the quality of different lots of sealing profiles to vary.
Finally, a device for mounting a sealing strip on the flange of a sunroof opening or other opening in a car body is known from DE 197 04 327 C1, in which a supply roll is installed permanently in a storage unit structurally separate from the application device, and in which the sealing strip being paid out from the supply roll is buffered in a length buffer by means of at least one loop passing around two pulleys spaced a certain distance apart, this distance corresponding to the length required for the sunroof opening.